The Community Farm is hosting an event to encourage would-be volunteers to consider using their skills to help out. A Volunteer Open Afternoon is being held on Thursday November 22 from 1pm to 7pm at the Community Farm which is at Wallberry Farm on the Carnane Estate off the Old Castletown Road in Douglas. The farm is a charitable project run by The Children’s Centre and needs voluntary workers to support the project and help to run the wide range of activities it organises. Since the Community Farm began in January 2011 staff and volunteers have been creating an environment in which children and young people from across the Island can learn, from practical experience, the skills needed to care for animals and to grow crops. The farm also has workshops where children learn skills that will be put to good use in maintaining and repairing farm tools and machinery. The farm hosted successful open days in the spring and summer this year, and with more and more people wanting to visit the project more volunteers will be needed over the coming months. Chrissy Cannell, Farm Development Officer, said:

“As the number of people wanting to use the farm increases, the Farm Team will need more and more help. We hope that the Volunteer Open Afternoon will help us to find suitable volunteers to help out with general farm duties, education support, craft and baking, and to help feed the animals at weekends. Everyone is welcome to come along and there are volunteer opportunities to suit a people from a wide range of ages and experiences.”

Primary and secondary school pupils and community groups with a variety of needs and abilities are all regular visitors to the farm. Volunteers who can spare just a few hours a week could help out with the general day to day maintenance of the farm, use their skills in craft workshops such as weaving, or use their culinary expertise to help with jam making. Chrissy adds:

“We know there are lots of local people who have experiences and skills that they could bring to the Community Farm and have the satisfaction of knowing that they are supporting a project which benefits everyone on the Island. There’s so much going on
at the Community Farm that there’s room for lots of different volunteers with different skills – and the Volunteer Open Afternoon is the ideal opportunity for them to find out how they could help.”

For more information about The Community Farm go to http://www.thechildrenscentre.org.im/what-we-do/community-farm/ or contact Chrissy Cannell, Farm Development Officer, on 610540 or by emailing farm@thechildrenscentre.org.im